“WHEN you are in that sort of space, you have to have a shot.”

Long Melford’s Jack Durey thought nothing of unleashing a shot 30 yards out during the Villagers’ FA Vase match against Bowers & Pitsea on Saturday.

The result? For starters, an unsaveable stunner that helped Melford to their first competitive win of the season and booked their place in the second qualifying round of the competition.

But it was then followed by Durey’s goal going viral with a YouTube video posted and then retweeted on Twitter by England international attacker Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and former Manchester United player Quinton Fortune.

Only 56 supporters were at Stoneylands to witness the wonder strike, but yesterday the number of people who had watched the video was closing in on 7,500.

The shocked 22-year-old admitted he was enjoying the attention his goal was getting – much to the light-hearted annoyance of his friends and team-mates.

He said: “I didn’t know it had gone online until I got back from playing football on Sunday morning and I had loads of texts from friends saying they had seen it.

“But since then the response has been amazing. As a bit of fun, I have been re-posting the video on Twitter and then to have someone like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, one of my favourite players, retweet it was amazing – it made my day.

“I haven’t stopped talking about it to my mates while I have the video all loaded up on my phone ready to show the dressing room.”

Durey, who played at Portman Road for Sudbury Athletic in the final of the Suffolk Junior Cup two seasons ago, said he had no other thought on his mind when he picked the ball up from Martin Westcott during Saturday’s cup tie.

He explained: “Westy had put the defender under pressure and gave the ball to me. When you are in that sort of space, you have to have a shot. As soon as it left my boot, I knew it was in.

“It was the best goal I have ever scored – in truth, it will probably be the best goal I ever score.”

According to the Melford website, the video was taken by non-league football follower Dan Wilson who can be heard describing it as an “unbelievable goal” and “stunning strike”.

He has since asked the footballing great and good, via Twitter, to send the video out to their own followers – a plea answered by Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is currently on England duty, and former Atletico Madrid and Manchester United man Fortune.

Amazingly, Durey’s goal was the only one of five fully captured on camera during Melford’s 3-2 win.

They now face Woodbridge Town in the next round of the Vase on September 15.